


Her First Night in Mother's Heart

by Lastly



Series: Aloy & Vala [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 11:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lastly/pseuds/Lastly
Summary: Before the Proving begins, Aloy spends time getting to know one of the other participants.





	Her First Night in Mother's Heart

_Well... this must be the place._ Aloy thought. After the conclusion of the Blessing Ceremony, she had been told to go to the Hunter Lodge to rest for the night. Tomorrow was the big day: The Proving. But for tonight, she needed to make sure she got a good night's rest so she could be at her best.

The lodge, like most other buildings in the Mother's Heart, reminded her of Rost's small cabin. Walls of logs topped with sloped roofing that was covered in snow. There were some markings on the wall around the door and while Aloy didn't know what they meant she assumed that they were what marked this particular building as the Hunter's Lodge.

" _Motherless chuff._ " the man standing guard at the door muttered at Aloy as passed by him into the doorway. She stopped in her tracks as she considered if she should say anything or not.

"What'd you say?" She had had enough of the Braves in the village. If it weren't for High Matriarch Teersa forcing them to follow the rules, she wouldn't have even been let inside the village gates.

"Find your bed, outcast, and dream of winning the Proving. That's the closest you're going to get." he growled back at her.

"Oh, this is the bed-house? With you standing guard, I figured it was the latrine." She walked into the lodge and slammed the door behind her, not letting the Brave distract her any longer. She let a small grin onto her face, proud at herself for coming up with a quick retort.

Unfortunately, the grin didn't last long as one of the other young hunters was determined to wipe it off her face.

"Well, well - look who's come in from the wild! The motherless outcast! I see you've still got a scar from where that rock I threw hit you! Now that's a cherished memory." It took a moment, but Aloy recognized the boy eventually. She didn't know his name but she had seen the blond hair and blue stripe painted over his left eye when she was younger and occasionally spied on the Nora children.

"You can be a real lard sometimes, Bast. Cut it out." The girl next to him spoke up. Aloy liked her immediately since she was one of the few in the village who seemed to want to treat her as an equal. Aloy felt something else, as well, when she looked at the girl though - something deep in her chest. It felt... warm? She wasn't sure what it was but she knew that she needed to talk to this girl more to try and figure it out. She looked over at Bast at the other end of the lodge and, for just a moment, considered confronting him but decided against it, instead going over to an empty bed near the girl.

"Good choice. I've found ignoring Bast is the best way to deal with him. I'm Vala, by the way. Nice to meet you." Vala sat down a bed across from Aloy, smiled at her, and locked her big brown eyes with Aloy's. Aloy found herself nearly getting lost in her eyes but she managed to break her gaze away, although she found it hard to look away from the girl. Her long black hair was accented with a blue and white headband and framed the darker skin of her face in a way that Aloy found... beautiful. Vala raised her eyebrows at Aloy and she realized that she had been staring for perhaps a few moments too long.

"I- Ah- Thanks. I'm Aloy."

"Oh, I know who you are. The competition. The others, they'll finish the Proving, most of them. But win it? That's down to Bast, you... or me."

"You're right. I am going to win tomorrow." Aloy showed a playful smile.

"Never celebrate a victory before it's earned, girl. My mother taught me that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep. I plan to be well-rested when I run you into the ground tomorrow." Aloy let out a chuckle at Vala's playful jab and Vala grinned at her in return. They both moved from sitting on their bunks to laying down but Vala seemed to change her mind quickly and restarted the conversation.

"I guess you've never slept in a Nora lodge before, right? Not very private." She watched Aloy as she tried to find a comfortable position on the bunk but eventually gave up and just laid down flat and turned her head to look at Vala. Part of her regretted looking over at Vala though, because she was greeted with the sight of the young huntress laying on her side which revealed the curves of her body which nearly made Aloy fumble for words again. 

"It has... certain charms." Aloy answered after a moment.

"Homey enough, once you're accepted."

"That's the problem." Aloy felt the warmth in her chest that Vala had caused begin to cool as she was reminded of all the people she had met today who would have preferred she stay out in the wilds.

"I think you'll find a place here. I do. Get some rest." Aloy warmed right back up when she saw Vala's sweet smile again. She hoped to meet more Nora like Vala. Or at the very least that she could spend more time with Vala so that she could figure out the new feelings she was making her feel.

Vala turned over onto her back and, along with most of the other candidates in the lodge, tried to get to sleep as quickly as she could. Aloy did her best as well but found herself far too restless to get to sleep any time soon. Eventually the fire in the fireplace turned into little more than embers and Aloy gave up and rolled out of her cot and made her way towards the door. She did her best to quietly open the door just wide enough for her to fit through and slid outside into the cool night air.

"What, you ready to give up? Running away back to the wilds?" The same guard was still out front but had moved from the door to a nearby campfire. Aloy rolled her eyes at him; she didn't want to deal with him, she just wanted some fresh air.

"Don't mind Resh, if his ugly face wasn't so good at looking scary then he wouldn't be very good at guarding anything at all." Aloy hadn't even heard the door open behind her, but there was Vala's tired but smiling face. She hooked her arm through Aloy's and pulled her down the steps and away from Resh. "Come on, let's go somewhere a bit quieter." Aloy was more than happy to leave Resh to himself, especially if it meant spending more time with Vala.

She lead Aloy all throughout the village. As the moon had risen, the village had quieted down significantly. Almost all of the fire pits had been extinguished and only a few Braves who were assigned to the night watch milled about outside now. Most of the festivities had either ended or been moved indoors - and from the sounds of a couple of the lodges it seemed a few of them were still going quite fervently.

"So I guess you can't sleep either, huh? The village not as quiet as the wilds, right?" Vala voice had softened a bit now that she didn't need to compete with the din of the hunter's lodge.

"It's not that bad, really, now that mostly everyone's asleep. What about you? Surely you're used to it." Aloy's response elicited a chuckle from Vala. Between the sound of her laugh and the soft touch of her arm around Aloy's, the warmth in her chest had returned and was stronger than before.

"I'm just excited for tomorrow, I guess."

They eventually came to a stop at a bench near the edge of a village that had a nice view out over Mother's Embrace. Vala sat down on the bench and then looked back at Aloy and motioned for her to sit down next to her. Aloy happily did as instructed.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? I love coming up here on nights like this when the sky is clear and the moon is full." Aloy didn't answer right away, her attention darting from one familiar place in the valley to another. Vala was right, it truly was beautiful. Aloy was able to see more of the valley at once than she ever had before and it was all bathed in the glowing moonlight that shined down from above. When Aloy finished admiring the view and looked over at Vala, she found the young woman looking right back at her. She just smiled at Aloy for a moment before breaking the silence.

"I like your pendant." Vala reached up and brushed aside a bit of Aloy's hair so she could get a better view of it. Aloy touched it and felt the smooth texture of it when Vala mentioned it. It was a simple thing: an oblong shape with a hole in the center and a blue speck painted on below it. There was beauty in its simplicity but Aloy found more value in it as a way to remember Rost.

"O-oh, thank you. Rost gave it to me." Aloy paused briefly and then realized Vala couldn't have known who Rost was. "He's the one who raised me." she added quickly. A slight melancholy overcame Aloy as her thoughts shifted to Rost. When she passed the Proving, she wouldn't be allowed to see him any more and he had made it quite clear that he was leaving the valley so that she couldn't even try.

"I can tell you really care about him." Aloy's shift in mood was very clear to Vala and she put a hand on Aloy's back to try and console her at least a bit. Even if she didn't fully know what was going on, she didn't want to see Aloy like this.

"He taught me everything I know. I plan on making him proud tomorrow by winning the Proving." Aloy did her best to grin as she glanced over at Vala who smiled right back at her. Even in the midst of the night they were both ready to compete.

"So. Your first day in Mother's Heart. What d'you think?" Vala changed the subject in hopes of getting Aloy's beautiful smile back.

"It's been good. Noisier than expected. I'm surprised you all haven't scared away every animal in the valley with how loud the celebrations were." Aloy said with a laugh.

"I promise, we're not always this noisy. It's just for special occasions like the Proving... or like when we meet someone special." It took Aloy a bit longer than it should have, but she eventually realized what Vala meant and when she did she felt her cheeks warm up as she blushed. Aloy stuttered as she tried to find a response but she was unable to find any words.

"Hey, your cheeks match your hair now." Vala teased and brushed her hand against Aloy's warm cheek. Aloy could feel her chest heating up even more now as her heart began to beat faster at Vala's gentle touch. "I don't know how you can be so warm out here, nights like this tend to be pretty cold." It took everything Vala had to not laugh at Aloy and just how flustered she was getting.

"Even if you're not cold, I am so I think you should have to help warm me up." Vala said as she grabbed Aloy's arm and put it around her own shoulders. She wasn't actually all that cold but she couldn't help herself.

"I wish more of the Nora were as... uh... _friendly_ as you are." A very red Aloy said.

"I don't know, I like having you all to myself." The line surprised Aloy but what surprised her more was Vala suddenly moving closer until their faces were practically touching.

"Is this okay...?" Vala asked quietly, her lips barely more than an inch from Aloy's.

"W-what are you doing" Aloy's words barely got past the lump in her throat. 

"I was hoping to kiss you." Vala said as she started to move back a bit. The confused look on Aloy's face surprised Vala until she came to a realization. "You... don't know what kissing is, do you? I guess there are some things the wilds can't teach you." Aloy let out a nervous laugh and a grin, a bit embarrassed at the situation but mostly just confused.

"It's when... when two people press their lips together. It's to show how much they like each other." Vala liked to think that she was normally pretty smooth, but when faced with having to describe what kissing actually was she found herself struggling for words.

"O-oh... okay. I think I get it." She didn't get it.

"It's... it isn't just liking someone. It's..." Vala took a breath before continuing. "Kissing is for when you care about someone so much that just seeing them makes your heart beat faster... like you do for me, Aloy." Vala blushed as she spoke.

"Really?" Aloy's nervous grin turned in to a warm smile which then met Vala's as she leaned in and gave the girl a quick peck on the lips. "You make mine beat faster too, Vala." she said quietly. 

Vala let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her arms around Aloy's shoulders and pulled her in close, kissing the redhead but holding it for much longer this time.

"You could use a little practice but I think this is a good start." Aloy leaned in and interrupted her with another quick kiss, causing them both to laugh. "Come on, we should get back to the lodge, we'll have plenty of time for this after the Proving." she said with a big smile. 

Vala was the first to stand up and put her hand out, which Aloy gladly held on to for their entire walk back together. On their way back, they each took turns stopping to kiss the other. When they got to the Hunter's Lodge, the guard shift had changed and Resh wasn't there and the guard that was in his place just gave them a small nod as they opened the door to go back inside.

They were careful to move as quietly as possible as they passed by all the sleeping candidates and made their way to their bunks. Aloy placed one more kiss on Vala's lips and then laid down on her bed but was surprised when Vala, instead of getting into her own bed, laid down right next to Aloy.

" _I told you I was cold. You better keep me warm, ok?_ " she whispered. Aloy didn't want to risk waking anyone up and instead responded by wrapped her arms around Vala and kissed her one last time before they both drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I wish they didn't kill Vala off like two minutes after introducing her :(


End file.
